Graydon
imagined that it might veil some resentment because he had been
so remiss in his attentions. He could scarcely maintain this view,
however, for she was as cordial to him as to any one, while at the
same time giving the impression that he was scarcely in her thoughts
at all.
Mr. Muir was perplexed also, and watched her with furtive admiration.
"If she cares for Graydon's neglect she's a superb actress," he
thought. "Great Scott! what an idiot he is, that he cannot see the
difference between this grand woman and yonder white-faced speculator!
She actually quickens the blood in my veins to-night when she fixes
her great black eyes on me."
Graydon felt her power, but believed that there was nothing in it
gentle or conciliatory toward himself. Probably her mood resulted from
a proud consciousness of her beauty and the triumphs that awaited her.
She had been young and gay heretofore with the other young people, but
now that a number of mature men, like Arnault, had appeared upon the
scene, she proposed to make a different impression. The embodiment of
her ideal might be among them. "At any rate," he concluded, "she
has the skill to make me feel that I have little place in either her
imaginings or hopes, and that for all she cares I may capture Miss
Wildmere as soon as I can.
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